Apple’s new iPad sold out

Apple has sold out of its new iPad following a huge surge of pre-orders.

Supplies of the new iPad that Apple had set aside for pre-orders have sold out, and the only way customers can buy one on launch day – 16 March will be in an all-night queue outside a store.

Customers may still be able to get an iPad in on 16 March through Apple’s retail store, through one of the company’s authorized resellers or from carriers Telstra, Optus or Vodafone.

Customers hoping to pre-order online will now have to wait a little longer with Apple’s website saying orders of the new iPad will now ship by 22 March in Australia.

While Australian orders will ship on 22 March, Apple’s US website says the new iPad pre-orders will ship by 19 March, three days after the official launch day. However France, Japan, Germany, Switzerland and the U.K. will be shipped two to three weeks, while Hong Kong’s online store says the new iPad is currently unavailable.

However customers can still buy an iPad 2 – starting at $429 – with a 1-3 day delay for shipping.

“Customer response to the new iPad has been off the charts,” an Apple spokeswoman said. Apple declined to release specific sales figures.